What happens when you take a city full of trigger-happy mercs and toss in even more weapons and instruments of destruction? Escape from Tarkov is finding out this week thanks to a “major” update that introduced 70 new items, more communication commands, better optimization, improved starter gear, and advanced weapon handling.

Not stopping to even take a brief break, the dev team is barreling to bigger and better things: “The next important stage in project development will start with the open beta, which is scheduled for launch at the end of 2017. By that time, the game will be expanded with new game mechanics, improvements of existing ones, more optimizations of graphics and network components, as well as additional game content, including new weapons and locations. Also, in the coming months, we plan to localize the game into new languages, including German, French, Spanish, Italian, Chinese (Simplified), Polish, Czech, Portuguese, Japanese, and Korean.”

Project Gorgon isn’t going to let a little thing like “being in alpha” stop it from indulging in the greatest monster-themed holiday of the year.

The fantasy MMO kicked off its brand-new Halloween event today. When players log in, they’ll be treated to a new quest that will branch depending on the choices they make. These choices may lead them to becoming a giant bat or gaining more bat abilities. C’mon, you know you’ve always secretly wanted to roleplay as a flapping terror of the night.

The quest and battiness isn’t all that’s new: “Some monsters now drop Halloween loot! The affected monsters include all undead plus giant bats, nightmare creatures, animals from the dimension of darkness (e.g. Misery Yaks), and various creepy humanoid wizard-types. Also note: to prevent abuse by high-level players, the very lowest-level undead, such as the ones on the newbie island, drop only a very limited assortment of Halloween items.”

Whether or not you have forgotten that Boundless (formerly Oort Online) even existed, this voxel-based building MMO has been steadily churning out updates in its early access program. In fact, Boundless just came out with Update 181 with no signs that its team is willing (or able!) to slow down. Well, actually Update 181 is all about signs, but you know what we mean.

The sandbox recently “re-re-balanced” its XP and progression systems and still features regular wipes and resets due to testing needs. Other updates over the past few months revolved around chisels, beacon permissions, initial support for multiple characters, creature threat, the tutorial, build progression, and about a billion other things.

This Minecraft-inspired title might be worth a closer look at this point, especially as it’s sporting many positive reviews on Steam. We’ve put up a couple of guide videos to help you familiarize yourself with Boundless after the jump.

Closed beta MMOARPG Dauntless is rolling out what Phoenix Labs is calling its first major content update, dubbed Forge Your Legend and bejeweled with “a range of player feedback from the first months of Closed Beta.” Of note, the character customization in the game has received a meaty overhaul, with new hairstyles and makeup, a new barber NPC, and a free appearance reset. (Beards and face paint are still on the way.) Newbies will find themselves treated to a “new introductory player experience” and tutorial island, while all early backers can also jump into the new Dark Harvest events and check out the new armor and weapon art that has finally displaced all the placeholders.

What’s still on the horizon?

“In December, the next major Closed Beta expansion will reimagine the Dauntless story and progression, providing players with more exciting hunting options and activities. Slayers will also be able to master a brand new weapon class and expanded combat abilities, while customizing their weapons and armor in a new gear progression system. Two new Behemoths will also begin stalking the Shattered Isles, providing players with new challenges to overcome.”

I’m gonna give Trove a pass on wackadoodle Halloween events. Trove is wackadoodle all the time. My character has a hot dog hat. If it weren’t for the pumpkins, I bet nobody would even notice that the devs are kicking off mischief this week.

But of course, they are. “Starting on October 24th, complete seven all-new, seasonal adventures to make the most of the holiday and earn epic loot in the process!” Trion posted this morning, heralding “endless gourdzillas.”

“Witness the return of Pumpkin lairs to every biome. Clear out these pernicious pumpkin properties to earn Candy Corn which can be used to craft Mystery Boxes at the Shadowy Station in the spoopy new Shadow’s Eve hub.”

There’s a bunch of lockbox and sale sale stuff too, but do make sure you pop into the cash shop in the next couple of weeks to pick up a freebie: the musical mat, which turns out to be a promotional mount (I tested!). Want to see it all in person? We’re streaming at 4 p.m. EDT today, so join us then!

Hey there, you barbaric hordes roaming the Albion Online countryside, slaying other player characters in your path, burning their villages, spitting on their guild emblems, and grinding up your alchemy in your downtime. It’s Halloween. Time to give your mortal enemies quarter and carve some pumpkins.

“The cities are now decorated with fallen leaves, carved pumpkins and all sorts of spooky props, putting the players in the right mood to tackle a number of autumn events. As adventurers roam the lands during Fall Season completing tasks, they will find and collect Pumpkin Pips. They can be found, e.g., in camps, chests, the arena, on expeditions or in locked pumpkins which randomly appear near resources. The Pumpkin Pips may then be redeemed for special Halloween rewards or traded with other players.”

Sandbox Interactive is promising pumpkin heads, skeleton costumes, some sort of horrifying donkey thing, a sweet ghostly horse, and a plague doctor outfit. For your next marauding run, naturally. If you’re not into pumpkin pips, however, take a look at the full patch notes for today’s update, which includes a number of bug fixes and buffs Deepwood Enclave.

While Diablo III is getting a bit long in the tooth, there’s still plenty of space for the game to have its balance tweaked. The latest patch is all about adjusting the balance of class skills and class sets, nudging the performance on several sliders to make the weaker class options feel a bit more useful. Barbarians in particular have seen numbers boosted on several legendary items to make the effects on those items feel more pronounced in play.

Visual effects have also been toned down on abilities and passives that tended to hit large numbers of enemies, and some abilities have been redesigned to avoid strange gameplay quirks (like forcing Necromancers to refresh Skeletal Mages while already full). There are also the usual bug fixes and improvements, making for a patch that doesn’t add any new content but should make the process of hacking through familiar content slightly more pleasant.

Patch 4.20: Tides of China is live in SMITE today, bringing with it seven Chinese quests (eight would have been more auspicious!) and the Chinese conqueror achievement. Expect new buyables under the Odyssey banner, a new loot pack, a ton of icon reworks, and bug fixes and balance adjustments for Amaterasu, Artio, Guan Yu, Izanami, Camazotz, Cu Chulainn, Da Ji, Kumbhakarna, Raijin, Vamana, Poseidon, and Zeus. Artio and Izanami in particular are seeing nerfs (sorry!). Soul Eater got a nice redesign as well.

And! There’s a bunch of new exclusive skins too, but the best one by far is the new Super Chill Bacchus skin.

Don’t forget that The Reaping is live in the game as of yesterday too, so you can get your Halloween on.

Swords of Chult is live for PC players of Neverwinter today. If you’re not a D&D person, you might be wondering what the heck is a Chult. Turns out it’s a place: a remote location stuffed with jungles and tribal groups and dinosaurs. Its core city? That’d be Port Nyanzaru. Oooh, bad news for Port Nyanzaru:

“Port Nyanzaru’s walls have been overwhelmed by evils from the surrounding jungles, unleashing chaos upon the city’s inhabitants. Players battle against overwhelming enemies to ensure the city isn’t sacked and reclaimed by the wilds in the latest Skirmish that will change each time it is played. Additionally, competitive adventurers of all levels looking to sharpen their skills in combat can challenge others in the reworked PvP experience for all-new rewards.”

In addition to the defensive skirmish, players should expect the promised inventory updates, refinement QOL fixes, and alt campaign progression to boot. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One players will be waiting a while longer, but if you’re a PvPer? Today’s update is very much for you:

It’s a glorious day for PC players, as they are being welcomed into Bungie’s sci-fi universe with the release of Destiny 2.

It’s been a month and a half since the title released on consoles, and while the game has reportedly struggled to maintain a strong population, Destiny 2 has already become the year’s best-selling video game to date.

There are a few key differences between the console and PC versions, with the latter getting more graphic options, a mouse-and-keyboard control scheme, and some variations on weapon recoil.

Both versions, however, will receive the same updates going forward, and Bungie has a lot of plans for Destiny 2’s first year. The team revealed that there will be four major “seasons” this year, with each featuring a clan reset and weapons changeover to keep things fresh. Season 2 is supposed to add gear ornaments for those who want to deck out their armor with extra bling.

Time to update your space spreadsheet because EVE Online is coming at you with a brand-new expansion today. Lifeblood has launched, bringing with it new upwell refineries, massive moon mining, co-op resource war sessions, pirate bases encroaching on empire space, the ability to wager on duels, a new design for CONCORD battleships, and the mining ledger for individuals and corporations.

And while EVE Online’snew and improved Agency user interface might not look like a revolution, it could prove to be an invaluable resource to the bewildered pilot who is lost in the game and is looking for some solid PvE content. The UI hooks up players with all sorts of PvE activities that can be filtered by time, location, and type.

As we’ve previously covered, today’s rollout features a clockwork hub straight from Morrowind lore as players are tasked with investigating the daedric threat. It includes two world bosses, two new delves, and a new 12-man raid, Asylum Sanctorium.

Don’t want to buy Clockwork City? There’s stuff for you in update 16; the new weapon and armor transmutation system is the highlight, but the new trait tracker and new buyable houses should be on your radar too. Do note that you do not need to own Morrowind to access Clockwork City, which you might have assumed otherwise. You do need Morrowind for the new Crazy King battleground, however.

PWE’s MOBA Gigantic is going all out for Halloween with a full-scale update, Season of Souls, launching today for PC and Xbox One. You’re getting way more than some wimpy pumpkin patch is what I’m saying.

“With today’s update, players can control Ezren Ghal, a caster hero wielding necromantic powers to damage his opponents, collect souls and trade them for powerful abilities. The new hero twists the very being of his foes by draining souls in combat, which can be turned against enemies as devastating ability attacks. The brand-new map, Ember Grove, sets the stage for this fiendish update, bringing a dense and mysterious battleground to Gigantic’s map rotation. Ancient and home to bugwitches, this new map offers verticality, as well as nooks and crannies to outmaneuver other players.”

In addition to the new hero and new map, players can expect expanded chat, new skins for Ezren Ghal, player icons, better bot matches, UI updates, and new hero interactions. Check out the cute new screenies and the new update trailer down below!